The present invention relates to a closure for a load container having a rectangular opening and in particular to the closure for a truck having a rectangular open bed load container.
A truck closure of this type is known in the prior art which comprised a plurality of hingedly connected panel members, one end of which was pivotally connected to the inside end of the rectangular truck bed. The panels were configured to be slightly wider than the width of the open portion of the truck bed and were foldable into a juxtaposed position so that all of the panels were stacked at the inner end of the truck bed when the closure was not used to enclose same. When it was desired to enclose the body, the panels were folded outwardly so that any desired amount of body portion was covered. These were a sufficient number of panels to completely cover the whole rectangular bed.
While this closure had certain advantages, it also had a number of disadvantages which made its use problematical. For example, the closure was not water proof and thus the contents of the truck bed would become wet in the rain. The prior art closure had no provision for locking or for an alarm and thus the contents of the truck bed could be stolen when such a closure was used. Furthermore, the top of the closure was planar and smooth and if it became wet or if one sought to stack a load thereon, it easily slid off since the top was slippery. The closure was also impractical in that there was nothing preventing the lateral movement of the closure in the event of loads in that direction nor was there any protection for the truck cab from the closure in the event that the truck came to a sudden stop and the momentum of the closure carried the closure towards the cab.